Return on Investment for Development Offices

[Nicole Crabb]

Hi All,

I am looking to benchmark ‘best practice’ for my Foundation Directors in terms of how much it costs to raise a $ across school development offices.

Our office is 5 years old and we have removed non-fundraising activities/events/wages from our costs to work this out. I understand from Jeff Buchanan that we should be aiming for 20c in the $ which is much better than we are currently doing.

Is anyone prepared to share with me what they believe this figure should be or is for their Development Offices?

I would really like to work with Educate plus to start to create best practice and benchmark.

Many thanks

Nicole

[NeilMcWhannell]

Hi Nicole
Great to hear from you.. My research shows that ‘Best Practice’ is 1:1 return in Year One (incl salaries)
2:1 in Year Two
3:1 + in Year Three and beyond.
The Board must realise that is takes time to develop the really significant donations.
All potential major donors should be identified and listed with your Committee – these are those who have significant net worth and significant interest and involvement in your school.
All should then have a plan on informing them, nurturing them and making them feel part of the overall plan and solution.

[Nicole Crabb]

Hi Neil,

Thank you for the quick response. This information is very helpful for us – do you know whether this varies by the size of the Development Office/school?

Would you expect this to plateau after about Year 5 at around the 20c in the $ that Jeff mentioned?

We are about to embark on a Major Gift program and will employ the strategies you have recommended.

Many thanks

Nicole

[Paul Dennett]

I realise this is a very old thread, but in case anyone else is interested in ROI data, there is some very helpful research available from the UK, albeit with the caveat that this comes from overseas.

You can either pay 25 pounds for the 2018 report or see the 2016 report for free. I recommend looking at the latter if you are after a quick guide, as the patterns are unlikely to have shifted dramatically.

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